Pinnacles tourism generates $16M to economy

Report shows park visitors spent $13M in nearby cities

By: Staff Report - Updated: 2 weeks ago

Contributed PhotoPinnacles National Park

PAICINES — A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 233,000 visitors to Pinnacles National Park in 2017 spent $13.3 million in communities near the park, including the cities of South County.

According to the report released last week, that spending supported a total of 171 jobs, $6.5 million in labor income, $10.3 million in value added and $16.4 million in economic output in local gateway economies surrounding Pinnacles National Park.

“We’re proud to welcome visitors from all over the world to Pinnacles National Park,” said Superintendent Karen Beppler-Dorn. “National park tourism is a significant driver in the national economy, returning $10 for every $1 invested in the National Park Service, and it’s a big factor in our local economy as well. We appreciate the partnership and support of our neighbors and are glad to be able to give back by helping to sustain local communities.”

The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists Catherine Cullinane Thomas of the U.S. Geological Survey and Lynne Koontz of the National Park Service.

The report shows $18.2 billion of direct spending by more than 330 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 306,000 jobs nationally; 255,900 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $35.8 billion.

The lodging sector received the highest direct contributions with $5.5 billion in economic output to local gateway economies and 49,000 jobs. The restaurants sector received the next greatest direct contributions with $3.7 billion in economic output to local gateway economies and 60,500 jobs.

According to the 2017 report, most park visitor spending was for lodging/camping (32.9 percent) followed by food and beverages (27.5 percent), gas and oil (12.1 percent), souvenirs and other expenses (10.1 percent), admissions and fees (10 percent) and local transportation (7.5 percent).

Report authors also produce an interactive tool that enables users to explore visitor spending, jobs, labor income, value added and output effects by sector for national, state and local economies. Users can also view year-by-year trend data.

The interactive tool and report are available at the NPS Social Science Program website www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm.